Board Backs Charter for Home-Schooling Academy in Mich.

A Michigan school board has approved a proposal for a publicly
funded charter school for home-schooling students throughout the
state.

Under the charter approved last month by the school board of Berlin
and Orange townships, the Noah Webster Academy in Ionia County will
house a handful of administrators and a dozen or so teachers who will
communicate with parents and students by computer.

The academy will receive roughly $5,500 per pupil in state aid,
which organizers said will go in part for the purchase of computer
software, modems, printers, and at least one computer for every
home-schooling family.

The academy's back-to-basics curriculum will feature morals
instruction, said David A. Kallman, a Lansing lawyer who is the key
figure in the charter group.

"We keep referring to this as Bill Bennett-type education,'' said
Mr. Kallman, referring to the former U.S. Secretary of Education and
author of The Book of Virtues, a book of moral lessons for
children.

Approval of the proposal sets the stage for another in a series of
court battles between Michigan education officials and home-school
supporters. It also could lead to renewed attacks on the
charter-schools law itself, which Gov. John Engler proposed and steered
to passage last year.

'Questionable in Its Design'

Response to the charter's approval has been mixed. The Detroit News
hailed the charter group's promised curriculum as a "refreshing break
from public education's trendy moral relativism.''

But officials of the Michigan Education Association, which opposed
the charter-schools law, criticized the academy as the inevitable
outcome of a flawed law.

"One of our primary objections has been borne out in the grant of
this first charter that is questionable in its design,'' said Kim
Brennen Root, a spokeswoman for the M.E.A. "A certain type of morality
and values will be sanctioned with tax dollars.''

The teachers' union is exploring legal action, Ms. Brennen Root
said, but has not filed suit.

Michigan education officials and home-school supporters have
frequently sparred in court in the past. Observers expect that, like
past court cases, any legal challenge to the charter will center on the
state's teacher-certification law, which requires that all teachers in
all schools be certified.

Lawyers for Mr. Engler's staff have read the academy's charter and
believe it satisfies the law, said Daniel Schooley, the chief deputy
director of the Governor's office for charter schools.

"The key is the site,'' he said. "And the site in this case is the
Noah Webster Academy, where certified teachers will be on hand.''

'We Will Be Attacked'

Some predicted opposition to the academy will lead to a rewrite of
the charter-schools law itself.

"There's just no need to spend $5,500 per pupil in that situation,
and I think legislators will quickly see that,'' said Patricia Lines, a
home-school researcher with the U.S. Education Department.

"I don't think there's any question that we will be attacked,'' said
Mr. Kallman. "This cuts at the heart of public education as it's run
today.''

Mr. Kallman has frequently represented home-school families in legal
disputes with the state. Most recently, he won a case before the state
supreme court, which ruled that parents with religious objections to
public school instruction were exempt from the teacher-certification
law.

Mr. Kallman said that while he initially anticipated enrolling 200
to 300 students in the academy next fall, the charter's announcement
has led to a flood of inquiries.

"We're easily going to be over 500 students,'' he said, "and it
could be a lot more.''

More than 1,100 students complied this year with a law that requires
students taught at home to register with the state. But Mr. Kallman
said many parents operate in violation of the law, estimating that
there are 50,000 home-school students in the state.

Other State Programs

Michigan would not be the first state to support home-school
students with public funds. California has several "independent study''
programs, under which districts receive state per-pupil aid to enroll
students, some of whom live in other parts of the state.

Alaska runs a 55-year-old correspondence program for K-12 students,
which boasts among its graduates the Olympic-gold-medal skier Tommy
Moe. Course materials are shipped to students, and teachers at the
school's headquarters in Juneau check their progress and help with
assignments.

Originally designed for students in remote areas, the program now
serves many parents who choose to educate their children at home for
other reasons.

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